Ship of the Line: High Guard Frontier
by Darlok
Summary: YAHF. A ship and her captain are pulled across time and universe by the God of Chaos. For three Scoobies, life will never be the same again. (Response to Ship of the Line Challenge on 'Twisting The Hellmouth' website'.)
1. Chapter 1

**Ship of the Line: High Guard Frontier**

**Disclaimer****:** _I __do __not __own __Buffy __the __Vampire __Slayer__, __Andromeda__, __Star __Trek__, __and __Stargate __as __their __owned __by __people __far __more __fortunate __and __creative __than __I __am__. __This __was __written __for __enjoyment __and __no __profit __was __made__._

**Summary****:** _YAHF__. __A __ship __and __her __captain __are __pulled __across __time __and __universe __by __the __God __of __Chaos__. __For __three __Scoobies__, __life __will __never __be __the __same __again__._

**Author****'****s ****Note****:** Written in conjunction with writer Pyrgus. Reponse to 'Ship of the Line' challenge on 'Twisting The Hellmouth' website.

**Chapter**** 1**

One Alexander Harris was on a mission the day of Halloween. He stood in the new costume shop called Ethan's right after school browsing the wares, looking for three perfect costumes for two girls along with himself. However, being so close to the night of Halloween left the pickings slim as his planned outfit would be incomplete with no toy rifle. Thinking about it, Xander considered that fact a good thing as he was looking for three outfits that would match better.

Earlier that day in school, Xander had almost gotten beaten up by a jock that was the school bully. An event like that wouldn't have bothered him as he had little fear of regular humans after facing vampires for two years. But a dark cloud descended over him when his petite bottled blond best friend, one Buffy Anne Summers, came to his rescue. His overprotective best friend rushed to his aide thinking he was in the need of rescuing, but only ended up hurting his manly pride at having to be rescued by a small blonde girl.

Buffy felt bad when she saw how upset Xander was at her for making people think he needed her to be rescued and asked him how she could make it up to him. Xander had told her seeing her in a sexy halloween costume would cheer him up. She had grinned at him and jokingly offered that if he could manage to get Cordelia Chase, the Queen Bitch of Sunnydale High, to let him choose her costume then she would let him choose her costume.

Xander could only agree with a smile. While he and Cordelia had been bitter enemies since they were little, he knew her well enough to secure her help in his endeavors.

A quick search for the Queen C had been fortuitous as there hadn't been too many places she hung out in. After explaining things he was lucky enough to get her to agree. She even offered to help with financial aide in his quest due to his poverty stricken state. Of course he had to agree to not get anything too outrageous for Cordelia and make sure to get the most revealing thing he could find for Buffy.

"Need some help young man?" the voice of the creepy store owner spoke up behind Xander, startling him. For an old Brit, the man was too quiet for Xander's liking.

"Ah! Little warning next time you get sneaky." Xander grumbled in response. "But yeah there isn't much left."

The young man was glancing at the Star Trek costumes trying to figure out an ensemble to put together. He held a set of combadges and tricorders along with captain pips but couldn't find a uniform in his size or any toy phasers. Looking at the Orion slave girl outfit though, Xander was tempted to get one for Buffy to wear.

"Well young man, if you like science fiction and looking for something that fits, I have a few costumes in the back that I hadn't had room to bring up before now." Ethan spoke up leading Xander to the back room where surplus costumes were stored. The room was filled with boxes the store owner hadn't gone through yet.

Xander had noticed that Ethan left him alone to browse and had headed over to tend to Buffy and Willow who had just came in. He knew Buffy was intending to help his shy redheaded friend in stepping out of her shell for Halloween but he doubted the blonde would have much headway. Xander stepped up his search for the perfect costumes and found a box with uniforms and weapons that he recognized from the TV show Andromeda.

When he found a High Guard uniform in his size he was thrilled. Further investigation of the box also had a uniform that Xander recognized Rommie wore in the show that would show off Cordelia's body but in a tasteful way that she would still go for. He also found a hot skimpy outfit he intended for Buffy in the same box.

With a grin, the young man put everything in the box and left to find Ethan to buy the costumes and accessories. His two best friends came up next to him just as he was placing the box on the counter.

"Hey Xan, find a costume?" Buffy asked, hoping Xander wasn't still upset with her. She also hoped that he hadn't enlisted the help of Cordelia in their costume deal.

"Yeah Buff. I even got one here for you and Cordy." He pulled out the bag in the box holding Buffy's costume grinning like a loon.

Buffy's nose scrunched up cutely as she examined it. While she really had something else in mind to wear, she did make a promise to let Xander pick out her costume if he got Cordelia to let him choose hers also. She honestly thought that Cordelia would laugh in her male best friend's face but from Xander's smile, it seemed like he actually _had_ gotten Cordelia to agree.

Xander noticed his friend Willow was keeping her bag safely hidden in her arms as she was too embarrassed to let Xander see it.

"Cordelia and I will be by to get you and Willow later Buffster." Xander grinned hurrying away when he noticed Buffy's eyes widen in shock at the costume and how much skin it would show on her. He didn't plan to stick around to get pummeled.

After leaving the costume shop, Xander headed over to the Chase Manor to give Cordy her costume. He was surprised to find her waiting for him when he got up to the front door.

"Bout time dweeb," Cordy greeted in traditional Queen C fashion. "Did you give blondie her costume yet? Also you better have picked mine with more tact than you do with your normal outfits." She gestured at his distasteful checkered shirt. "And I swear to God that you better not have bought anything that shows more skin than my cheerleading outfit."

Cordelia didn't give Xander time to snipe back in response as she turned around. Xander could do nothing but follow her inside and upstairs to her room. It was the first time he had been allowed inside his childhood nemesis's home, let alone in her bedroom. The bedroom suite was large and screamed rich teenage girl with the number of clothes and shoes. He was stopped from looking around further when Cordelia stopped and faced him again.

"Well, Buffy did look surprised when I gave her the costume to look at when I was leaving the costume shop. As for you, how do you feel about leather?" Xander asked.

Xander pulled out a bag from the box containing a red leather outfit that had a deep neckline with black straps outlining the costume and a strap that went across the gap where her cleavage would be. It would perfectly show off her well endowed chest without being too revealing.

"You expect me to wear that?" Cordelia asked jerking the outfit from his hand and holding it out to examine. She typically wasn't a leather kind of girl.

"Well not just that, these as well." He held up a holster with a Force Lance inside along with a Star Trek comm badge and tricorder.

Reaching for the last costume in the box, Xander pulled out his outfit showing it to her that sorta matched hers. Cordelia had to say that when she pictured Xander wearing the uniform, she found herself silently admitting to herself she found the mental picture of Xander kinda hot. As soon as the thought ended, she mentally scolded herself. If word that she found her verbal sparring partner since grade school was hot, her reputation would be ruined.

Cordelia looked at Xander and noticed him starting to squirm unsure where to go to get changed. "Get changed out here, I'll take the bathroom. But if I catch you going through my underwear drawer I'll kick your ass." She took the costume and the items Xander held and marched off to her oversized bathroom to get ready.

Once the door slammed shut Xander could only sigh in relief as he kind of expected her to be more bitchy about the whole thing.

Unknown to the young man in the bedroom, Cordelia stood in the bathroom slipping into the snug but comfy leather outfit. While it allowed her to continue wearing her thong, she had to forego the use of a bra. However, the top held her ample chest nicely and it showed just the barest hint of her cleavage, enhancing her beauty. Cordelia doubted the flat chested slayer would look nearly as good or fill out the outfit as she did.

After attaching the Force Lance holster to her waist and putting the combadge on her chest and tricorder on the belt, she began work on her hair. It quickly began to frustrate her as she attempted to find the best hairstyle that added hotness to the outfit but found that no style she tried worked.

After holding her hair up in different ways to try and find the best hairstyle, she gave a frustrated sigh. She knew she would have to ask the opinion of the only person that she knew that would have any idea what would look best. The thought of asking Xander Harris for any kind of advice in fashion and hairstyles sent a shiver of horror down her spine.

When Cordelia stepped out of the bathroom she stopped a moment in surprise. She fell short of breath staring at the man who stood in her room. From the tight and perfect looking ass to the broad body that the black uniform seemed to enhance his appearance took her breath away.

The spell had been broken though when Xander turned around, having heard Cordelia's gasp. He in turn found himself having trouble breathing at how sexy she looked in the tight leather outfit.

"Not bad dweeb. You didn't completely screw up this time. Why you can't do as good with your own clothes I will never know. But if you tell anyone I gave you a compliment in your choice of costume you will be walking home with a limp boyo. Now, how does the woman in the show wear her hair? I tried my normal styles and they just don't look right." Xander could tell that last bit must have hurt her ego a little.

"Um well." He sighed, not sure if what he was about to say would make her hurt him. "In the show she wore her hair about shoulder length and parted in the front differently. Plus she put some highlights in her hair that usually matched her outfit."

Cordelia growled and stormed to where she kept her hair care products and brushes. "I doubt I can get an appointment with my stylist so late in the day."

Xander winced knowing how offended she was when not looking her best. "Um, I can help." He hurriedly continued seeing her glare at the idea of him messing with her hair in any way. "Hear me out. I've been best friends with Willow since diapers and my two best friends are girls." He winced wondering how badly he'll be teased about the next bit of information later. "And I've become very good at styling and haircuts."

Corelia could only stare in muted shock at the revelation. She then thought about the bottled blonde and redhead that Xander hung with and their hairstyles. She wondered if he was the one that did their hair for them sometimes. She had to admit, but would never say aloud, that their hair didn't look half bad sometimes. Cordelia didn't know though that Xander had learned from Joyce after he had seen Buffy's mom dye her daughter's hair and style it for her. Much to his manly pride, he had even helped on occasion while Joyce taught him tricks stylists used. Such knowledge if made public would completely ruin any manly honor Xander had left after Buffy rescued him.

Cordelia had no options left but hoped she didn't come to regret her decision to let someone besides her highly paid hairstylist, let alone the King of the Cretin's, one Xander Harris touch her hair.

**SCENE****BREAK**

Life was good for Xander. He sat in the passenger seat of Cordelia's convertible relaxing while in the back Willow kept a hold of her ghost costume trying to keep it from blowing away. Buffy however, couldn't decide who she wanted to glare at more. Her female best friend, who she dressed up in hopes it would get the redhead out of her shell and catch Xander's attention. Or her best male friend, who picked out her costume that showed way more skin than even the costume she had picked out for Willow.

Unbeknownst to the young man before he gave her the costume, the outfit was for a Nietzschean woman with bone blades and all. It had knee high leather boots and small tight silver mini skirt that Snyder would probably have a fit over. The final piece to the look was a small tight white jacket that exposed plenty of midriff and cleavage, with only a three inch zipper holding the top together. The thought of forcing her male best friend to wear the outfit while he hung from the school flagpole was very appealing to her at that moment.

The brunette driver was all smiles though as they rode to school. Codelia knew she looked hot in her costume but until that night she had no idea what a terrific hairstylist her childhood enemy was. Her hair while shorter than she usually wore it, was just above her shoulders and looked great on her. It now sported soft red highlights that framed her hair in a very fashionable look. Even though the wind was flying threw her hair she knew that later her hair would still be perfectly styled as if a professional had done it.

Memories of picking up Buffy and Willow gave her happy feelings when she saw the looks of surprise and jealous faces at Xander and herself. She couldn't wait to show the rest of her group her new look. Thoughts of future moments of enlisting the currently hot dweeb next to her for future styling filled her mind as they pulled into the parking lot of the school.

Xander didn't have much choice on what he would do when he got to the school. His two best friends dragged him off to meet up with Snyder in order to get started with the night of hell that was watching over little kids. Cordelia who hadn't been stuck with the job, joined her group of followers who were giving her surprised and admiring looks.

"Wow Cordelia, I love what you done with your hair!" Harmony commented in awe.

"Thanks, found myself a new stylist who is very good. " She grinned jerking her thumb over her shoulder at the sight of Xander being dragged behind two flustered girls. "And for future references. I'm keeping his talents to myself." The Cordettes were half distracted though when they saw the now hot looking Xander who looked very strong, confident, and commanding. At least he would have looked that way had it not been for two petite girls dragging him along. They seemed a bit possessive of their Xander shaped friend in not letting him do anything but drag his heels as they moved along.

Cordelia found herself glancing at her sworn enemy, letting her gaze roam over the young man over with thoughts potentially naughty things she would do to him if dating Xander Harris wouldn't ruin her reputation. Cordelia decided though, that Buffy could keep her old vampire boyfriend. She'd go after the Scooby with a pulse. After seeing him not dressed so horrifically, she had seen a lot of potential. Maybe now that her followers had seen the level of hotness that Xander could achieve, she could slowly ease them into her dating him and emphasize how well she could train him to be the perfect boyfriend..

**SCENE****BREAK**

Chaos erupted around Dylan Hunt as he got to his feet, feeling like he had been sucker punched by a Nietzschean. The last thing he remembered was standing with his family on the Command Deck of Andromeda getting ready to go on shore leave while the Andromeda was getting a refit.

"Captain Hunt, are you there?" Dylan rubbed his slightly throbbing forehead as he tapped the combadge on his chest.

"Go ahead Andromeda. What just happened?" Dylan looked around feeling lost.

Around him were monsters of all sizes running around the homes on the street he was on. What surprised him most was seeing old Earth vehicles that could only be found in history texts. It sent warning alarms rushing through his mind.

"It is unknown as of this time Captain." Andromeda replied as he grabbed his Force Lance from its holster. With reflexes honed from years of practice, Dylan fired off some warning shots to keep away some of the smaller creatures that had been sneaking up on him. "I'm currently directly above your location in orbit Captain. Readings show we are currently on Earth. But new sensors installed shows the quantum signature of the universe we are in to be not our own. I am also detecting another combadge near your location. It is Rommie."

Dylan sighed before grabbing his hand held scanner to track Rommie's location through her combadge. He then began to make his way to her but was stopped by a red headed young woman rushing up to him. "I'm sorry but you must have me confused with someone else. My name is Dylan Hunt, Captain of the Andromeda Ascendant. I'm not familiar with someone named Xander."

"No! No. This is not supposed to be right. Everyone's become their costumes. I was dressed as a ghost and now I am a ghost. You were dressed as a High Guard officer and now you are I guess. Wait Dylan Hunt...really?"

Willow finally took a moment to look at her childhood best friend. While Xander still looked the same to the red head, there were notable differences. The impressive young man had gained some more muscle mass filling out the black High Guard uniform which looked more real than before. Xander's hair had gained some length to it looking slightly longer giving a more roguish appearance than his short spiky hair.

"Oh my...!" Willow whispered under her breathe before shaking her head, trying to clear the naughty thoughts she was having about her very hunky best friend. "No we need to find Buffy. She can help figure out what's wrong." Willow looked around frantically trying to avoid looking at Xander. "Where can she be?"

Unfortunately, neither noticed the short blonde haired Nietzschean woman watching hidden in the shadows. Neither did they know that her sight was firmly fixed on the displaced High Guard officer.

"Look miss. I need to meet up with a member of my crew who is also somehow here. Maybe she'll know what's going on here and maybe help find your friend along the way." Dylan replied to the frantic young woman as he continued to walk toward Rommie's location. He really hoped that what was going on was simply a bad dream.

"Dylan!" A familiar voice shouted as he made it to the next street.

Dylan could only smile at seeing his wife rushing up to him. The red haired ghost squeaked in surprise when her best friend brought her worst enemy into a passionate kiss.

"Xander? Cordelia?" Willow whispered weakly in shock as she watched her crush kiss the one person she would never expect him to kiss.

Unable to accept what was happening, Willow rushed off into the night away from the kissing couple. She went to seek out Giles in hopes of ending the madness since Buffy couldn't be found.

After reaffirming his wife was okay, Dylan pulled away to look at her. "Rommie do you know how we got here or what's happening?"

"No, for some reason many functions of my body are not responding. It feels...like I'm fully organic!" She expressed in astonishment finding.

Her only explanation was her body had gotten a major upgrade without noticing or her consciousness was transferred into a fully organic body. Had Rommie had a fully organic body she would have had a lot less problems years before.

When she and Dylan had a child together earlier in their marriage, they had to use of a chamber that simulated a womb with an embryo. They ended up using Dylan's sperm with a genetically engineered egg that had the genes that would match the physical characteristics of Rommie's appearance. However, she had no idea where her child was and if they were lucky, she wouldn't be with them in such a strange place.

Before he could respond to Rommie's sudden conclusion, Dylan felt a hand on his shoulder suddenly grab him. The High Guard Officer immediately responded, concluding that it was a threat and with precision movements put the man in a choke hold as Rommie looked at the dark haired man that startled Dylan.

"Easy Xander! Its me, Angel!" The vampire with a soul tried to placate as the surprisingly strong arm squeezed his neck. If Angel had been a normal human the vampire wouldn't have been able to breathe if he wanted to.

Rommie became curious as she was sure her husband was using enough pressure to choke but not kill the man. But when Angel spoke, he showed no problems with speaking.

"Um sweetheart, I don't feel a pulse." Dylan stated in confusion as he looked at the man who seemed almost as strong as his best friend Telemachus Rhade which would be impressive.

As she had no abilities inherent with her Avatar's body, she pulled out the hand scanner that she had on her belt and scanned the dark haired man. According to Rommie's scans, what stood before her was a reanimated corpse. With calm efficiency she grabbed her Force Lance and shot the creature in the center of his chest. To both of their surprise the man suddenly collapsed to dust.

"Huh. I didn't expect that to happen." Dylan said as he calmly brushed the dust off his uniform.

"Dylan whatever that thing was it wasn't human. I detected no life signs and a dark energy reading similar to what the Abyss had." She explained, sounding very concerned at the thought of their greatest ex-enemy.

"We should get back to the ship and try and find out more about this place." Dylan placed a comforting hand on his wife's shoulder as he tapped his combadge. "Andromeda send a dropship down to pick us up in a nearby clearing."

Once getting confirmation that the craft was on its way, the displaced couple began making their way to the rendezvous coordinates when they heard a shout further down the street.

"Hey droopy! Wheres that bitch slayer at? I'm in a good mood tonight. Tell me and I'll kill you and your girl right quick."

To the bleached haired vampire, that sounded like a mighty fine deal. To the High Guard officers it sounded like a broken record. After a quick glance at her scanner, Rommie gave her lover a brief nod and in sync both drew their Force Lances. With a finesse of being the best trained soldiers from their universe, they shot the grand childe of Angelus. The effectiveness of a Force Lance was proven once again as both hit dead center into the vampire's unbeating heart. The resulting dust pile caused the rest of the monsters that Spike recruited run in fear. The High Guard couple turned their attention to the rest keeping at the ready till the area was clear.

"Captain. The Transport is waiting for you both." Andromeda spoke up as Dylan and Rommie resumed their walk. Everything happening under the sight of a bottle blonde turned real blonde Nietzschean.

**SCENE****BREAK**

Dylan stood on the command deck of his ship watching the monitor as Andromeda smoothly moved away from Earth to the opposite side of the moon for cover. The two organics on the ship could feel their bodies beginning to become fatigued and planned to get some rest before investigating their situation more.

Rommie came over to her husband and let Dylan wrap his arms around her body. An action she had loved since Dylan finally allowed himself to fall in love with her. With a small smile, she turned her head gently kissing her lover's lips. Neither them nor Andromeda could detect the energy that reached away from the small California town to the heavens toward them, nor that the cause was from a bust of a Roman god being destroyed.

In Sunnydale California people moved as if suddenly waking up from a sudden nap. Kids quickly made their way home from wherever they suddenly found themselves. A redheaded girl woke in a daze trying to sort out her memories. The memory of her best friend and nemesis kissing had really disturbed her. In her distracted state, she didn't notice the headlights of the approaching zebra decaled van and got a slight bump on her head that would send her to the hospital

A blonde haired woman once known as the Vampire Slayer found herself scratching itchy wrists and found that the once plastic bone blades from her Nietzschean female costume looked and felt very real. Memories of another life filled her head and the blonde felt weaker than she had felt since she became a slayer. She wouldn't know until the next day, after confirming from her watcher, that she was no longer fully human and in turn lost whatever abilities the slayer essence had left behind when she died. To regain most of her strength and stamina would require a lot of training.

Back on Andromeda, the energy mixed with the inherent powers of a Paradine. Dylan's unique abilities from an obscured ancestry allowed him to keep his physical prowess and memories much like the girl in his arms and the blonde back on earth. However, the biggest concern was the fact that as they became aware of their true identities of Xander Harris and Cordelia Chase. The pair found themselves making out, something that was immediately freak both of them both out.

If that wasn't enough to scare the sudden couple, the voice that spoke up next would finally do it. "Mom? Dad?" Xander and Cordelia turned quickly to face a ten year old brunette looking at them as a loving child would at their parents. The stress became too much for Cordelia who fainted into Xander's arms. If it wasn't for the fact the situation was so serious Xander would have made a mental note to tease Cordelia.

Looking at the younger girl, Xander's mind matched up the girl's appearance to the memories he kept from Dylan of his and Rommie's daughter. "Dawn?"

No one knew that the Chaos magic had unfortunately altered the spell cast by a group of monks to send the key, a collection of mystical energy, into physical form. The magic brought the child to life far sooner than expected. Along with the fact that the child hadn't been created from the DNA of Buffy Summer's parents as intended, but from two 17 year olds that were just starting to figure out life and what each other meant to each other.


	2. Chapter 2

**Ship of the Line: High Guard Frontier**

**Disclaimer:** _I do not own Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Andromeda, Star Trek, and Stargate as their owned by people far more fortunate and creative than I am. This was written for enjoyment and no profit was made._

**Summary:** _YAHF. A ship and her captain are pulled across time and universe by the God of Chaos. For three Scoobies, life will never be the same again._

**Author's Note:** Written in conjunction with writer Pyrgus. Reponse to 'Ship of the Line' challenge on 'Twisting the Hellmouth' website.

**Warning:** Lemon towards the end of the chapter and is marked. (Lemon removed from Fanfiction dot net. Can find it on Twisting the Hellmouth website.)

**Chapter 2**

Rest did not come easy for the young man that was considered to be the most normal, and in a less friendly reference, the most useless of the Scoobies. Xander felt like he was on autopilot as he got up at the same time Dylan usually had and begun his morning workout. The somewhat familiar action resulted in taking him on a jog through the decks of Andromeda to clear his head.

While pushing his body to keep the fitness he had gained through his possession, Xander was trying to sort through the memories that felt as strong in his mind as his original memories did. The little sleep he was able to get the previous night had helped make sense of everything he now knew thanks to Dylan, but the memories felt like they had been overlaid with Xander's own.

"So what am I supposed to call you now Captain?" The voice of Andromeda interrupted his introspection.

"What do you mean?" The dark haired Scooby asked though he suspected he knew what she meant.

"In a way you are still Captain Dylan Hunt. Your body has changed to where my internal sensors show you are him even though you do not have his spirit for the lack of a better term. That and the fact that after you woke up your wife this morning she kept referring to you as both Xander and Dylan, and you didn't seem bothered either way."

"Wait a moment, wife? Andromeda while Dylan and Rommie were married and we became them for a few hours doesn't mean me and Cordelia are the same. First off there is a little thing called a marriage certificate in order to be married on Earth." Xander hoped that little detail would silence the A.I. on the issue.

"Besides a girl like her would never go for someone as low as I am in social standing. Even if a marriage certificate suddenly appeared on Earth for me and her, we'd probably kill each other anyway before we even got around to a divorce."

Xander was unaware that his ship was already plotting and planning to play matchmaker. The biggest question for Andromeda though was whether to get Dawn involved.

Unfortunately for Xander, Andromeda's comments brought him to a stop. Not only did the fact he was still unsure just who he was now stop him in his tracks, but also at Andromeda's referring to the biggest bitch in his high school life as his wife. The very notion of being married to Cordelia Chase both mortified and exhilarated him.

Xander could only hope the latter was Dylan's memories of Rommie but he wasn't positive on that fact. After figuratively living what a positive marriage could be like and not as his drunken parents portrayed, it made him wonder if he could have something like that one day.

That same thought led him to his now ten year old daughter that Cordelia and himself suddenly found themselves in the care of. After some checking, it was discovered that she had memories of being raised by Dylan and Rommie, but Andromeda had confirmed her DNA was a one hundred percent match to Cordelia and himself. Xander was sure there was a deity laughing at him somewhere.

"Morning Dad," a young female voice spoke up behind him, making him focus on his surroundings once more.

He turned to see Dawn standing in gray sweats holding a basketball. It was then he noticed he was standing where he had set up...no, where _Dylan _had set up his basketball hoop. Leaving his messed up memories for another time he focused on the younger girl.

"Morning Dawnie." He went over to give her a morning hug, unconsciously slipping into the role of loving father who recognized his daughter. "Ready for some one on one?"

Dawn's smile lit up the room as the fears about her parents being so different from what she remembered were abated. When she was tucked into bed the previous night, Xander and Cordelia spoken to her and confirmed they would always be there for her. While her dad seemed younger and different he still loved her.

Unknown to the father and daughter, Cordelia and Andromeda were monitoring the two from the command deck. Andromeda stood as a solid holographic form next to the young woman that had dressed up as her Avatar.

The young woman had woken up before Xander which surprised herself. She was not normally a morning person. The quiet time had given both of them a chance to talk, and Cordy found it refreshing to talk to someone without the external pressures she normally felt. The result was that Cordelia didn't feel the need to freak out as much as she once would have. As their conversation came to a close, Cordy was coming to fully accept the new life she could have if she stayed with Xander and Andromeda.

"He definitely makes a good father doesn't he?" Andromeda spoke out, voicing similar sentiments that were running through Cordelia's mind.

"Yeah," Cordelia replied quietly to herself. "Who'd have thought with someone of his upbringing would be so good with a child of his own," she muttered in reference to what she knew of Xander's rough childhood.

Like Xander, her mind was a mess with two personalities waring for dominance. One moment she was Cordelia Chase who was trying to find her place in things and meet everyone's expectations of her. The next moment she was Rommie, loving wife and mother to her family and a sister to Andromeda. It was then that she noticed something that had been on her mind since the previous night.

"Andromeda how are you..." She gently poked Andromeda's seemingly real shoulder. "Solid?"

Andromeda looked at herself also in confusion. "Unknown. Since arriving here I have noticed some changes throughout the ship that weren't there before. My holo emitters have been greatly improved. New sensors I never seen before were at my disposal that helped determine I was not in my home dimension. I also hold other technologies in my database I have been studying. All of which shows much promise in aiding our endeavors, like matter teleporters for instance."

The Rommie in Cordelia was intrigued at the possibilities and subconsciously reached up to rub the back of her neck just under her skull. Under her fingers she could feel a slight lump by her brainstem where a colony of nanobots were injected. Andromeda did so after Cordy asked if there was a way to give her the same access to the ship as Rommie had.

Cordelia had felt off not feeling a constant connection to Andromeda that Rommie felt when she was the Avatar of the ship. It allowed her to remotely access things around the the large vessel, in return the nanobots allowed Andromeda to have eyes and ears whenever Cordelia was off ship. New subspace communication equipment allowed Andromeda to keep in constant contact with Cordelia up to a couple of light years away.

Andromeda noticed the action and felt concern. "The nanobots giving you trouble?

Cordelia pulled her hand away and relaxed. "Just a slight headache. The influx of information is taking some getting used to."

Cordy had been subconsciously using the internal sensors. With them, she was monitoring her significant other and daughter to make sure they stayed okay. It was a habit Rommie had developed and did out of concern for her family. Cordelia made a mental note to focus on sorting her thoughts out more once she was able to do so in private.

The two new sisters looked at Xander and Dawn when they sensed the pair enter the command deck. Both had worked up quite a sweat playing basketball. Dawn looked like she was about ready to dance in joy having beaten her dad in his favorite game. Xander looked happy simply because Dawn did. It was a father's prerogative to let their child win in sports after all. Feeling playful, Xander and Dawn attempted to hug Cordelia who immediately backed away from the two.

"Ugh! Don't even think about it until you both have a shower!" She exclaimed, dramatically holding her nose as she backed away from the two.

"Dawn go with your mom and get cleaned up. Knowing her, she'll be wanting you to be as fashionably dressed as she is." Xander's eyes found themselves unconsciously eyeing Cordelia's outfit that day. She was wearing a similar outfit she wore on Halloween but this time it was blue.

His teasing caused Cordy to stick her tongue out at him in a childish response. But both young adults were reminded they desperately needed time to talk alone. They were starting to sound like a family when only twenty-four hours ago they would have been sniping at each other's throats.

"Okay, Dad." Dawn gave him another hug before mother and daughter left.

Xander turned to the holographic form of his ship's A.I. It took him a moment to figure out how to best express what he wanted. "While playing basketball with Dawn I did a lot of self assessment and I came to a decision. Change the records to list me as Alexander Hunt, Alex for short."

Andromeda could only smile in response. She was glad that Alex wasn't completely denying what he had inherited from Dylan. "What made you come up with that name?"

"Well after what you told me about how my genes have been altered to be closer to Dylan to almost that of a brother in comparison, it seemed obvious for the last name as it helped me lose my connection to my deadbeat parents. As for my first name, Xander was the name of the goofy kid who shirked responsibility. I think its time I finally grew up." Deep down Alex knew those words were finally putting to rest the conflict he felt about his identity.

Both ship and captain grinned at each other as Alex walked over to the pilot's station. While he knew what Andromeda was capable of he wasn't sure if Slipstream was present in his home dimension. After a moment to confirm he could open a slip point nearby he started to head out.

"Once I get cleaned and changed, prepare for slipstream. I think our first task is to see if we can find out if any of the races from your home dimension are in this one. Our first stop will be the Andromeda galaxy. For all we know the Vedrans are out there forming the Systems Commonwealth as we speak. If not maybe other races that had once been allies could be so again."

"In the words of a human proverb. 'Here we go again!'" Andromeda watched her newly named captain walk away. She was looking forward to another adventure.

**Scene Break**

Back in Sunnydale Buffy was an unhappy Buffy. She sat alone in the library after her Watcher had performed a multitude of spells to determine what happened to her after she had reported her changes from Halloween. Her mentor's only explanation was that somehow due to the chaos magic she had lost her mystical Slayer powers for new ones, whatever they might be. It was unfortunate for the former slayer that chaos magic was unpredictable in its nature.

While Buffy was unaware about anything else strange happening after the night was over that was similar to herself, she hadn't heard from her Xander shaped friend since he disappeared. There was also word out that the head cheerleader of Sunnydale High hadn't been found by her friends either since that evening.

The now natural blonde girl had learnt that her best female friend had ended up in the hospital after receiving a mild concussion when she was hit by a van after the spell ended. Buffy had noticed Willow hadn't been as shaken up as she should have been, instead the redhead had frequently commented about the cute boy that had hit her. If her interpretation of Willow babble was correct, then her best friend wasn't suffering alone as the boy had stayed by her side while she was in the hospital.

Glancing once more at her Watcher, Buffy slid her sleeves of her shirt up to expose the bone blades on her forearms. She found herself instinctively flexing the three blades, causing them to go back and forth from laying against her arm to jutting straight out. Buffy hoped they weren't permanent like a zit on her face, but a part of her figured the things would be handy in a fight. Her Nietzschean memories gave her insight on just how effective the bone spikes could be at killing.

Thinking back to the previous night, she remembered her stalking of Xander. Her more enhanced hearing had picked up that the only male in her group of friends was the infamous Dylan Hunt, hero of the System's Commonwealth and the Nietzschean people's most respected foe. The part that freaked her out the most was that the powerful woman that possessed her considered Buffy's Xander shaped friend as a desirable mate. It was an odd feeling due to the fact that she shouldn't find a non-Nietzschean worthy of her. That thought alone made Buffy's mind even more confused and wondered if she was suffering from split personalities.

Moving on to further events of the night, Buffy wasn't sure how she felt about the dusting of Angel that she witnessed. While she was upset at seeing her friend kill her boyfriend, the new part of her psyche found herself disgusted at the thought of mating with a Vampire. The undead smell that reached her nose almost made her vomit from where she was hiding, some fifty yards away. She shuddered at actually being close enough to kiss the vampire. The event caused her to reconsider things in her life, especially if her change was permanent.

Buffy looked up hopeful though when Giles came back in from his office after discussing matters with the Watcher's Council.

"Well? What'd they say?" Buffy quickly pulled her sleeves back down to cover her bone blades as they made Giles a little uncomfortable. When Giles took his glasses off and started to clean them, the hopeful look slid off the blonde's face.

"Well I explained what happened. I'm not sure how much comfort this is but after hearing Ethan's spell somehow caused you lose the mystical power that gave you the abilities of a slayer, they issued a kill order for him. Also I been informed that they are bringing in the new slayer from Boston to take over your duties here. I been told she has been active since last year after your near death experience."

"So they're just kicking me to the curb?" Buffy asked as her voice grew more upset. She had only started to finally accept her duties and now finds out she was being replaced. It did not help her currently fragile ego.

"No! No, not so much. I'll try and see if I can restore you to your former self. But unless I know what spell Ethan did, I don't know what I can do to help. The magic he practices leaves so much up to chance given that it's chaotic in nature. The magic sometimes doesn't react to everyone the same way. There can be a many reasons that caused a spell like that to react differently from one person to the next." Giles tried to placate the young woman but doubt he was having much effect.

Buffy slumped in her chair quietly pouting as she thought. "What about Willow? From what she told me she's completely back to normal along with all the other students and kids I heard about." Her frown deepened. "Well except that I haven't heard anything from Xander and Cordelia. But something strange happened to them last night. I think they got on a spacecraft or something and flew away from what I saw. They were also talking to someone else that wasn't there."

"So you suspect you three are the only ones that received a permanent change from the spell?" Giles wondered at why that happened.

"Xander was the one that got our costumes for us and Cordelia. Could there be a connection there?"

Buffy noticed the look immediately that settled onto her Watcher's face. It meant research, an all night study session that really impacted her beauty sleep. Buffy could only groan as Giles stood quickly to retrieve his books that he felt might hold the key.

Thoughts of her being not genetically designed to research filled her mind. Followed by thoughts of what she needed to do to return to her physical peek. Buffy had the knowledge of being Nietzschean and knew what her body was capable of with her genetic enhancements. The young blond didn't know why she didn't stay as she had been when the spell was active, but she made plans to start work on improving himself to what she could be.

Neither the Watcher or former slayer knew that Xander had been the reason that he and the two girls kept some of their changes permanently. When Xander revived Buffy and therefore invalidated the plans of the Powers That Be's prophecy, it had marked Xander as an agent of Chaos much like Ethan.

Unlike Ethan however, who chose to be a servant to Janus, the roman god himself picked Xander to be his hand in the universe. The handling of Buffy and Cordelia's costumes had left enough of a mark to extend the same blessing onto the pair. Buffy's new abilities had atrophied due to her long distance from Xander's presence when the spell ended. Janus who was a god of transitions and bringer of civilizations, had found a worthy Avatar when his hand merged with a renowned guardian of civilization.

**Scene Break**

"Transitioning to normal space," Andromeda spoke as the the ship exited out of slipstream on their last stop through the galaxy of her namesake.

Little Dawnie relaxed where she stood at the pilot's station standing on the stool that her godmother Beka Valentine had made for her. It helped Dawn reach the controls properly till she grew up. Beka had taught Dawn how to pilot slipspace since she was old enough to understand. Unlike in her memories, piloting slipstream had gotten more difficult, but thankfully Dawn found herself adapting to the unused slip routes.

"I've never piloted Andromeda through so many difficult routes in slipstream before. Felt like was I was trying to squeeze a grape through a straw," Dawn complained to her parents and Andromeda.

After several trips throughout the day, the command deck had a great feeling of depression. That feeling was strengthened as everyone stared at the screens that showed a devastated system. Outside the ship floated the remains of the Tarn Vedra civilization. From what they could tell everything had been wiped out.

"The destruction is many centuries old. If the Vedran history is similar to this universe as it was in mine then a great battle happened here just as the Vedrans would have started interstellar travel." The ship's A.I. sounded as depressed as the rest felt. They all shared a connection to the planet in one way or another.

"Unbelievable." Alex sighed rubbing his face.

They had spent a whole day bouncing around the star systems of the Andromeda Galaxy, looking for any race they were familiar with in the old universe. While proof that some of the races been around, events had taken place that prevented all of them from becoming spacefaring species. The Vedrans had had been destroyed long before they could uplift other civilizations to the stars.

"I guess that's that then," Cordy spoke up after comforting Dawn. The younger brunette was upset to see many races she had friends from were no longer among the living.

"Dawn, are you up for one more jump to the Than homeworld?. They might have survived since they were able to develop slipstream on their own before joining the Commonwealth. But if you're too tired I can pilot us there instead. You did very well today Dawnie."

Alex gave her a comforting hug as he tried to maintain his hope. His thoughts of trying to bring Earth into the galactic fold seemed to have gone up in smoke like every civilization they had visited. He wasn't about to risk bringing the people of Earth into the galactic scene without a strong interspecies government to protect them.

Just as Dawn was about to comply as she felt capable for one more trip before resting, Andromeda spoke up effectively halting them from leaving the system. "Captain I am picking up a facility on what remains of Tarn Vedra. While I'm detecting no power anywhere, the facility is mostly intact."

Alex smiled seeing where Andromeda was going with it. "And if we can restore power we might also find out what happened here. Good job. Prep a Lancer Drop Ship for departure."

Dawn and Cordelia immediately made to follow but both young adults stopped Dawn from coming along. "No way squirt, you're staying here incase it's dangerous." Cordy ordered the pouting young girl.

"You guys don't let me have any fun!" Dawn stormed back to the pilot's station giving them the cold shoulder.

Alex shook his head thinking back to a younger Cordelia when she had her own tantrums. He yelped in surprised when he was slapped in the shoulder. "Hey! What was that for?" He asked as they made their way to the hangar bay.

"I know what you're thinking. I wasn't that bad dweeb." Cordy gave Alex the evil eye as if daring him to contradict her.

Alex grumbled quietly to himself as they reached the dropship. Together the two took off and headed to the facility that was for the most part intact. It was a quiet flight to the scorched surface of the planet. As they were preparing their space suits due to the planet no longer having an atmosphere, Cordy decided to bring up the big pink tutu wearing elephant between them.

"So how are you handling all this?" Cordy asked in a subdued tone proving what was going on weighed greatly on her mind.

Alex stopped and looked at her briefly before continuing to slip his suit on. "How should I be handling this Cordelia? We're only seventeen and now share the responsibility of a ten year old daughter. On top of that we have command of an advanced warship that was supposedly a tv series. Of course, that's not including what we gained from two people who were married to each other."

Thinking on it again, it surprised her that she wasn't as disturbed about it as she should be. It was something new and exciting without the stress of her old life. "You ever thought about getting married one day?" Both connected their helmets before leaving the safety of the dropship.

"Honesty, I never gave it much thought before today. You know what my parents were like Cordy. Can you expect me to marry anyone when I had role models like them?" His tone was full of sarcasm as the two entered the structure that had seen better days.

Further talk was halted when they managed to locate a door to the building. It took a few moments to cut the door open in order to get in. Once inside, Alex sat down the tool kit he brought with him to start working on getting a console they found operational. Cordy looked at her mutual partner in their new lives with renewed sympathy before she started to look around. The high powered beam of light from her Force Lance illuminated the dark and dusty room.

The inside of the building was large due to it being a giant dug out hole with a roof. After a more deeper visual examination, the inside contained what looked like the remains of an alien ship that she didn't recognize from her memories as Rommie. To the former cheerleader, Andromeda was a beautiful ship with her streamline form. From what she could tell from what she was looking at, the alien ship was bulky and ugly.

"Got it!" Alex exclaimed in triumph as he got the Vedran console near the wrecked ship working. "Andromeda, I have the interface hooked up to a console. Access it and see what you can find out. We'll do some more scouting around in here."

The two walked together around the remains of the ship while Andromeda searched through what the databanks the Vedran console contained. Aside from the remains of the wrecked ship, there hadn't been much to look at. They eventually came across some container boxes stacked near a corner that drew them to the area. Inside were hundreds of yellowish squid looking objects. Alex picked one up to try and examine it. It looked advanced and almost simple in the construction.

"Mom! Dad! You both need to get out of there. Andromeda is picking up an energy build up that has been going on since you guys found your way in there. We think the place was boobytrapped and is about to explode!" Dawn's frantic voice shouted from their suit's speakers in the helmets, making the two young adults eyes widen. They had immediately broke into a run to the exit for their dropship before Dawn finished speaking.

The pair had been lucky enough to get to the minimum safe distance when the facility exploded behind them. Had Andromeda not remotely prepped the dropship and immediately took off once they were aboard, they would have never made it. Both breathed a sigh of relief once they felt the dropship stop shaking from the force of the blast.

"There must have been a lot of explosives in that place. Now you see why we wanted you to stay behind Dawnie?" Alex asked the young girl over the comm while confirming they were alright and to remind the little brunette, she was kept on Andromeda for a reason. "Now Andromeda, what did we get?"

Cordelia and Alex started to remove their spacesuits now that they were no longer needed. Alex looked down realizing he had accidentally brought one of the squid looking objects with him. He wondered what it was as he placed it on a empty seat in the drop ship.

"While the Vedrans didn't have time to properly examine what they found on the ship, they were still able to get decent scans and document what they had. The ship is from another race that came upon Tarn Vedra and the Vedrans attacked the unknown vessel believing the ship was a threat. They were lucky to take it down before it had time to raise its defenses. Had the ship been ready, nothing the Vedrans had at the time would have been able to damage it."

Everyone there frowned as they had been so used to knowing the Vedrans being the most advanced species in known space. To hear how out outmatched they were made them wonder if there were any other more advanced races about.

"The aliens had a different kind of Faster Than Light travel than slipstream. It works along similar physics as subspace. The yellow object you have captain was a main weapon of theirs that was very effective and unstoppable. The ship's defense was an energy shield that protected the vessel from attacks instead of relying on heavy armor. Those were the major technologies noticed by the scientists studying the ship at the time along with plasma based weapons."

"Can we replicate and use this technology to help us Andromeda?" Cordy asked while looking intrigued. While she was terrible at science before Halloween, she found a new appreciation of it since becoming Rommie. That and she never felt the need to know as much about the galaxy before she became a participant in it.

"My systems are much more advanced than the Vedrans of old had at the time. It would take some modification and tweaking, but I believe I could even improve upon some of the systems to make them even more effective. The new knowledge I have acquired since coming to this dimension will greatly help in this goal."

Alex looked back at the yellow squid with new eyes. "Compared to our own weapon systems how would the alien weapons perform?"

"From what the ancient Vedrans had recorded before they lost power to the facility when the aliens counter-attacked, the yields of the alien weapons weren't much higher than the standard from my universe. But that can be fixed once I have sufficient modifications. One thing of note is our Anti-Proton cannons, they would be a mighty weapon if worse came to worst due to its ability to pierce the defense shield by overloading it."

"Well I'm glad to see we won't have to worry about any galactic bullies after all," Cordelia remarked as they exited the hangar bay after they had docked.

They were then attacked by a brown haired missle who had happy tears when she saw that they were okay. "It's ok Dawnie, we're safe." Cordy comforted the young girl. "Its getting late and we're all exhausted. I'm gonna tuck her in for bed." She added to Alex.

Alex nodded as he watched the two go before shaking his head in amazement at how his life had turned out. "Corelia sure has changed. Wonder if she she'll revert to form once we get back to Earth."

Alex began to make his way to the command deck with the plan to fly back to Earth. However, Andromeda's hologram appeared in front him which caused the young captain to stop and forget the idea before he could even start.

"Captain, I would like to stay in system for a bit. My scans of the explosion showed it was a lot bigger than it should have been. My analysis of the hull of the craft showed a mineral that was a very effective blast multiplier. There is a plentiful amount of the mineral in Tarn Vedra's second moon. I would like permission to set up a mining operation to extract the unknown mineral and run some experiments on it. If it's as effective as I hope, I would like to begin modifying our missiles with them to increase their effectiveness."

Alex sighed while thinking it over. "I guess we can stick around for a bit. It would give us a chance to upgrade your systems before running the chance of encountering any hostiles."

He glanced down the corridor where the two females who became very important to him went. "Permission granted for the weapons and shields. I don't want to use an unknown FTL technology until we can fully understand it. Until we can, we'll stick to slipstream as its something we probably know more about than any race in the nearby galaxies. Now if you have nothing else I'm gonna go and get some sleep."

"Aye sir." Andromeda disappeared with a smile.

She would soon begin her tasks of refitting her systems and the start of mining a moon full of the material they would soon learn was called Naquadah. Andromeda knew the mineral wasn't native to her home universe and deduced it was a unique difference this universe had with hers.

Finally done for the day, Alex walked into his quarters and could hear Cordelia in Dawn's room wishing each other goodnight. He took the time to go into the master bedroom and changed into a t-shirt and shorts to sleep on the couch. Alex didn't expect Cordelia to one day decide to let him have the bed anytime soon.

As Alex was about to leave, he accidentally bumped into Cordelia and his quick reflexes brought her into his strong arms keeping her from falling. "Easy there."

Alex did not notice that his arms around Cordelia were making her brain metaphorically melt as she pressed her body against his. Nor did he see that after he had let her go and passed by her to wish Dawn good night, that she looked upset at him no longer holding her.

"All set sweetheart?" It still amazed Alex at how easy it was to slip into his role as a father, how right it felt.

Looking once again at his biological daughter's room he wondered how Cordy felt seeing their daughter's wardrobe. It seemed obvious the talented Beka Valentine had a large influence in Dawn's fashion sense.

"Yeah daddy." Alex could tell she was exhausted from navigating through slipstream so many time by her referring to himself as 'daddy'. Something she only did when she was either hurt or tired according to Dylan's memories.

"I'm very proud of you today. You did as well, if not better than your god-mother. She might have even felt jealous if she was here." He lightly tickled his daughter that was created by magic as she looked happy to receive her dad's praise.

"Now get some rest. Andromeda is looking to start making some changes to stay as the big bad warship in the universe. She'll likely be a slave driver tomorrow in getting us to help her."

Dawn giggled knowing the ship's A.I. as well as her dad did. In a way, Alex was also married to Andromeda due to Dylan marrying his ship's Avatar. That idea was likely to make psychologists debate for decades. Alex kissed her forehead as Dawn settled into bed. Seeing her looking so innocent and vulnerable reminded him that she was only ten years old even though she acted a lot more mature than her age.

Turning off the light, Alex went out to the couch to lay down and found the pillow and blanket was missing. Looking towards the master bedroom, he found Cordelia standing in the doorway in a tank top and shorts smiling almost shyly to him. Seeing she had his attention, Cordy gestured for him to join her in the bedroom.

A little nervous himself but also somewhat curious, he followed Cordelia into their room as the brunette got under the covers and patted for him to join her on the other side. It was with great hesitation when he complied. She seemed to be acting so much unlike the old Cordelia as of late.

"I'm not gonna bite dweeb," She placated in an annoyed voice seeing how tense he was. That is, when she wasn't admiring his new muscular arms that the shirt didn't hide.

"Not gonna kick me out of bed?" Alex asked still not fully trusting himself to relax as he settled in the blankets with her.

"No, I think its time we really have a heart to heart. Andromeda has been helping me and Dawnie work through these changes. I realized earlier though, that you hadn't had someone to seriously talk about things with."

"I told Andromeda I've come to terms with who I am now. Who you are now, that is probably my biggest concern." He frowned when he noticed a three inch hologram of Andromeda on Cordy's bedside table. "Am I being ganged up on to make me share my thoughts and feelings?"

"No!" The two women replied in perfect stereo which caused Alex to groan in annoyance. He wasn't likely to believe it for a second.

Alex tried to hide his head under his pillow but Cordelia was having none of it. "Not this time Alex, we are gonna have a talk and you can't hide near my old friends or the pint sized blonde bitch to avoid it."

"Why does this matter so much to you Cordy? I would have thought you'd have jumped ship once we made it back to Earth aside from the occasional visiting with Dawn."

Alex had grown too distracted trying to guess Cordelia's new motivation to notice that she had slid closer to him in bed. That action effectively closed the physical gap between them.

"I'm doing this because I see a future I could want Alex. Before this I had to live to the expectations of my parents and felt my life was preordained since I was born. My supposed friends are no better than my parents as they compete to be the most popular and fashionably dressed. Out here none of that matters. I can be me and not someone else. I've felt a huge weight off my shoulders since that spell ended. And through it all I believe it's thanks to you."

It was only then did Alex finally notice their proximity when she slid to lay ontop of him. The only way he could have escaped is if he threw Cordelia off of him. The thing that scared him the most was that he wasn't sure if he wanted to do that. The young captain was close to wishing for a Magog attack to rescue him from his dilemma. Alex briefly wondered if wishing in the void of space was just as much a bad idea as saying it while on the Hellmouth. Fortunately Cordelia took the decision out of his hands.

**Lemon Starts**

**(Due to Fanfiction dot net rules, materal was removed due. If wished to be viewed you may at the 'Twisting The Hellmouth' site under the same author's name.)**

**Lemon Ends**

After both young adults had finished, they laid content but exhausted in each others arms. It didn't settle everything between them but it got them to relax around each other. Gentle kisses were frequently shared between the two new lovers. But the quiet revelry did not last as a not so subtle Andromeda had, while undetected, opened a bedside drawer on Alex's side of the bed. Both saw Dylan and Rommie's wedding rings resting inside which were waiting to be taken out and placed on each others fingers.

**Scene Break**

Beings of great power had been extremely pissed since Halloween night. Prophecies and plans made centuries ago had all come to naught. It started off slow with Buffy Summers not dying from the Master as they had foreseen. While unexpected, they still figured it still worked to their advantage.

Since then, things became worse things and it was harder for them to predict events. If they could not keep a balance between good or evil then a certain being higher than themselves would resign them from their duties. Such a course of action they considered unthinkable.

The Powers That Be knew who was to blame for the loss of control. However, they could neither touch him beyond the reach of Earth, nor could them harm him when upon Earth's surface. The PTBs were forbidden from interfering with events in the heavens, and Janus's protection kept them from reversing or affecting anyone that had been touched by chaos magic.

To make matters worse, they had lost any control they would have had over Buffy Summer when she lost the leftover powers of the slayer. That problem was compounded by the fact their schemes for two important vampires were negated. Their champion and an influential pawn for balance had both been slayed by Janus's new servant..

The Powers That Be plotted to try and regain their control with the only piece they had left on their chessboard now, the dark haired slayer. They knew they would have to cheat to get their lost pieces back. If it didn't work out as they hoped, the PTBs knew they would be removed from their duties leaving mankind in charge of their own fate. Such a notion seemed ridiculous to the senile growing powers.

Another great being in orbit of Earth, was finished helping his new friends on the human homeworld. The small creature that resembled the Roswell grays was leaving the system and heading for home. The distasteful company of its enemies, the Goa'uld, was quickly forgotten as the advanced being began to study its sensor readings from when it first exited out of hyperspace.

It had caught the end of a portal collapsing that almost resembled a hyperspace window. The readings that dissuaded the smart being from thinking so however, was that there was far more energy being released from the aperture than hyperspace would normally.

The only theory the little being known as Thor could come up with was that it was a ship leaving the system. Whether the ship left on its own or ran having detected his ship, the Beliskner arriving, it didn't know.

Having had enough enemies over the millennia, the Supreme Commander of the Asgard race was hoping it might be friendly race. WIth so little that surprised him as of late, the brilliant Asgardian hoped that if the race was not hostile that they would let him study their method of FTL. Thor being both a top military leader and scientist, found a new puzzle to wrap his mind around when not fighting its greatest enemy.


End file.
